Heart Shaped Box
by snarkysweetness
Summary: Skye has a very special surprise for Ward.


**Title: **Heart Shaped Box  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** Skyeward with Philinda (and brief cameos from Natasha and Jemma)  
**Summary:** Skye has a very special surprise for Ward.  
**Warnings:** Nothing.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes: **I'm back, bitches.

"You're looking positivity mischievous," Jemma accused.

Skye didn't bother hiding the grin on her face as she pulled a gift box from its hiding spot in her desk.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jem."

Rolling her eyes, Jemma made her way towards the door.

"Fine, Skye, keep your secrets."

She was such a drama queen.

"Just have those reports done for me, yeah?" Skye ordered, following her out of the room.

"Of course, _boss_," Jemma teased.

Now it was Skye's turn to roll her eyes. She'd been happy taking a break from running a team to lead the Communications division, but when her mom had decided to retire, she couldn't just say 'no' when Director Hill offered her the position of second Command. Even if it did mean all her friends were being dicks about it.

"I _can_ fire you, you know," she called, earning her a middle finger from Jemma.

"Charming," Skye muttered, shaking her head.

"Coulson? Heading out?" Natasha called from her office.

"Yeah," Skye answered, poking her head in to find her mom's replacement sitting on her desk instead of behind it. "Need anything before I go?"

"Yeah, for you to get Ward pissing himself on camera," she smirked.

Skye closed her eyes with a sigh. Of course, Natasha knew. She always knew everything. She'd probably known before Skye.

"Don't worry kid, your secret's safe with me."

_Right_.

"Night, Tasha."

Checking her tablet as she made her way to the elevator, she could see her husband had not yet returned from his recon assignment, which meant she had plenty of time to get home to surprise him with dinner.

Okay, fine, she was going to pick up dinner on her way home- but it still counted.

"Babe, I'm home," Grant announced.

"Just in time." Skye greeted him with a quick kiss before disappearing down the hall.

"Is that Rousseau's I smell?"

"You knew I couldn't cook when you married me," she teased, shoving part three of his surprise in her back pocket.

"That wasn't me complaining," he insisted, taking a seat at the island and reaching for the beer she'd set out for him.

Skye kissed his cheek as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. "Good, I'd hate to have to kill you. I just cleaned these floors."

"I love when you talk dirty to me," he teased, leaning back to kiss her.

Skye pulled away with a smirk. "Better eat up, you're going to need it."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "We'll see."

Grant chuckled and reached for his fork. "Don't have to tell me twice."

She watched him for a moment, her palms growing sweaty.

_You can do this, Skye_ she told herself. _You've survived alien invasions; you can do anything_.

"Sweetheart? Are you okay?"

"Fine," she lied.

"You haven't touched your plate."

Skye stared down at her food and did her best not to show her disgust. Truth was, between the smell of her chicken and his etouffee she was feeling the urge to vomit.

"I had a big lunch with Natasha and Maria."

"Okay," he shrugged.

"Speaking of," he reached for her hand. "Any reason why Nat told me to take the rest of the week off to 'rest up' while I could?"

Skye was going to kill her.

"Probably just Nat being Nat," she said through gritted teeth, doing her best to remain calm.

"She's not sending me overseas again, is she? Because I can't handle these long missions without you anymore."

Skye let out a long breath of relief.

"Oh, honey," she muttered, moving between his legs to give him a kiss. He was so brilliant in so many ways, but also so, so dumb.

"Overseas assignments are my job now, and I'm not sending you anywhere-unless you piss me off."

"That isn't funny," he pouted.

"It's a little funny," she smirked, running her fingers through his hair.

"Is it time for dessert?" He pulled her closer, giving her his bedroom eyes. The ones that had gotten her into this mess.

"Not yet, I have a present for you."

"Is it a sexy present?"

"Oh yeah, the sexiest," she replied sarcastically.

Reaching under the sink, Skye emerged with the heart shaped box she'd wrapped in a bow for him this morning. It had taken every ounce of self-control she possessed not to just knock him over in excitement and spill the news. She wanted to make this special. He'd been robbed of so much joy in his life and she wanted to make sure the life they had together was filled with it.

Grant eyed her suspiciously as he took the box.

"What's the occasion?"

"Just shut up and open it," Skye insisted, failing to hide her excitement. She was literally bouncing on her heels, her thumbs tucked into her back pockets, ready to pull out the second half of his gift.

Smirking in her direction, he turned his attention to the gift and pulled the ribbon apart before slowly lifting the lid.

"Skye?" He glanced up at her, his eyes already wet.

She gave him an innocent shrug and watched as he carefully took the purple pair of booties from the box and stared at them for what felt like forever.

"Are you-" He stared back up at her and this time she held the answer to his question up for him to see. One for each hand. Each with two clear lines.

"I found out this mornin-Grant!" She squealed as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around happily.

"Oh, I love you," he cried, kissing her as he set her back on her feet.

"I love you too," Skye whispered, trying not to cry.

They hadn't exactly been trying, but they had spent years discussing having a family when the time was right. And Skye couldn't think of a better time. Sure, when Maria and Nat had her job, they'd both spent a lot of time in the field, but Skye could easily run things from HQ.

And Grant was still fit as ever, but he'd just turned forty and being at this spy thing for twenty plus years was more than most people lived to do, so he could take a step back.

And she really had to stop overthinking this because he was kissing her in a way that reminded her how she'd gotten pregnant in the first place.

"Baby, before we go upstairs, there's one more thing we need to discuss."

"Later," he argued, lips on her neck.

"How are we going to tell my parents?"

And as expected, that was the moment she saw panic fill his eyes.

* * *

"This is stupid."

"This is not stupid," Skye insisted, taking her hyperventilating husband's hand.

For a super spy, he sure did get squirrelly when it came to her parents. Well, her mom. Her dad treated him like the son he never had. But no one was good enough for Melinda May's daughter and she wasn't shy about letting it be known.

"Maybe this is a bad idea," he stammered, nervously wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

Skye rolled her eyes. "And what do you suggest we do? Not tell them?"

"That is the best idea you've ever had."

"Ah yes, in nine months I'll just appear with a baby, is that it? Pretend I'm just really into donuts as I keep getting bigger?"

"We could run away?"

Skye closed her eyes and released a long sigh.

_You married this idiot_, she reminded herself. _You're stuck with him_.

"I'm not ready to die yet, Skye," he whined.

"Too late," she shrugged, hearing the front door open.

"I brought lo mein and garlic chicken, your favorite!" Her dad announced happily.

It was her favorite, but right now the scent was making her stomach churn.

"Thanks, daddy," she managed to get out with barfing.

"What's wrong with him?" Her mom asked, glaring in Grant's direction.

He had grown pale in her presence and it seemed she was not the only Ward who would be vomiting today.

"Nothing," Skye insisted. "We had some bad shellfish last night is all."

Her mom didn't look convinced, but she turned away from Grant and began pulling out plates.

"So, Grant and I have a present for you, mom," Skye announced, making Grant's panic worse.

"Oh?" She shot a glare in Grant's direction.

"Yes, a retirement present," he squeaked.

"Isn't that nice, Melinda?" Her dad insisted, giving her a pleading look to be nice.

"I said I didn't want a fuss."

Phil sighed. "The kids just wanted to do something nice, Mel."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but if there's a card in it telling me I'm over the hill, I will break him," she warned, looking at Skye this time.

Mimicking her mother, Skye rolled her eyes and headed out of the room to retrieve the retirement gift she'd enlisted Fitz to help her modify at the last minute.

"Melinda, isn't that thoughtful?" Her dad said with a smile, admiring the custom-made shadow box Skye had commissioned when Nat had warned her that her mom was going to step down.

"It's a lot better than the party they threw for you," she admitted, running a hand over the top.

Her dad made a face, remembering how overboard Tony had went with the festivities and how he'd spent the night of his retirement having to bail Hunter and Clint out of jail.

Melinda leaned down and peered into the box where there were three shelves, one already lined with both hers, and Phil's, SHIELD badges, the other with empty spaces with small plaques saying 'Skye' and 'Grant', where their badges would go when it was their time to retire, and the third sat empty, waiting to be filled.

"It's beautiful, baby girl," she said, kissing the top of Skye's head.

"Wait," Grant said, having mustered up his courage. "There's something missing," he insisted, opening the box and placing a badge with 'Junior Agent' written in where the name should be on the last shelf. "There we go, it's perfect now."

Skye glanced towards her parents, feeling that giddy excitement again.

Her dad stared at the badge in confusion, while her mother stared in shock, no discernable expression on her face.

"I don't get it," he said after a moment, reaching into his pocket for his glasses.

Her mom continued to stare at the badge, barely blinking.

"Did you demote Ward, Skye? Who is a Junior Agent?"

"She's pregnant, Phillip!" Her mom snapped, her face turning red.

"She's-I'm going to be a grandpa?" He whispered in surprise before letting out a loud whoop of excitement. "I'm going to be a grandpa!" He repeated, pulling both Skye and Grant into a bear hug. "Grandpa Phil!" He cried, overwhelmed with happiness.

"My boy!" He kissed both of Grant's cheeks and then turned to Skye, taking her face in hands with a smile. "And you…" He pulled her into a bear hug, and she could feel his tears on her shoulder.

"There, there, dad," she muttered, patting his back gently. He was such a sap. And he'd been dying for a grandchild since the first time he'd walked in on Skye straddling Grant in a chair and discovered they were dating. He'd even insisted he'd retire to care for it so Skye could keep saving the world.

Her mother on the other hand had almost killed Grant for threatening Skye's career by being a distraction.

Speaking of…

"Mom?" Skye pulled away from her dad and turned to her mother to find she was still red in the face and glaring at Grant, who, to his credit, was not cowering. Her dad's happiness was infectious, and he was now showing off the purple baby booties she'd given him to his mentor.

Melinda turned her attentions to her daughter and watched her for a long moment before letting out a sigh.

"I guess you're stuck with him now," she shrugged in defeat before pulling Skye into a hug.

"Mom," Skye 'tsked', hugging her back.

"At least we know he's good for something," she whispered, kissing Skye's temple. "Your dad has been going stir-crazy in retirement, and at least my grandchild will be cute."

"_Mom_."

"And if he even thinks of running out on you, I'll kill him."

Skye groaned, vowing to not be this unbearable when her kid had a spouse.

"Ward," she barked, letting go of Skye. "Get your car keys."

He glanced at Skye nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. If you're going to take care of my pregnant daughter, I'm going to have to teach you our family's nausea cure and that requires a trip to the store. And on the way we can have a little _chat_."

"Poor boy is going to piss himself, isn't he?" Her dad whispered, coming up behind her and placing a hand on her back.

"Better get the camera out. I promised Nat I'd get it on film if he did."

They locked eyes for a moment before bursting out laughing.

Sure, seeing her husband sweat like this should be a cause for concern, but honestly, it was also hilarious to see one of SHIELD's top assassins terrified of a woman a full foot shorter than him.


End file.
